I asked Tom Powers today and here is his reply: The news on Father Jerome Murphy-O’Connor is quite promising these days, considering that he was only given a 50/50 chance of survival not that long ago. He is up and walking around, talking, eating, etc. and expected to make a full recovery. He is still… Read More »
The first point of this post is that this is not news. It happened about five years ago or so. But it took me a few years after it occurred before I visited the site, and then a few more years before I got the idea to put a photo comparison here. The Shephelah is… Read More »
Two very early inscriptions were found in excavations in the Shephelah this summer and word leaked about them both this week, in advance of the annual SBL/ASOR meetings in Philadelphia. Since lots of news reports and bloggers have written about them, I am not motivated to say more, though both are more interesting to me… Read More »
I am not a fan of the IPod (or of most things related to Apple, for multiple good reasons), but I am a fan of the new IPod Flea. Watch the video at the NYTimes website (2.5 minutes). When that’s finished, read the story about the “Minnesota Ghost.” Takes about 1 minute.
These are two unrelated items that I read in the last 24 hours that I would recommend to you. For prayer: The Caspari Media Review gives the latest run-down on events related to Christians in Israel. Just the news, but very thought-provoking. For practice: Listen Up! Very good insights on talking and listening. Takes 3… Read More »
There are a thousand ways to see Israel. And IBEX is essentially booked up for the forseeable future. So the following comments aren’t because we’re looking for more work. Something just stirs in my blood when I see something represented inaccurately, especially when it’s intended to promote their own interests and put others down at… Read More »
I used to think that I took good photos in Hezekiah’s Tunnel. I remember when most people’s photos didn’t come out and mine did (because of the difficulty of focusing in the dark). That was back in the days when I was mainly shooting students in the tunnel for the early IBEX website. But yesterday… Read More »
I’m being asked for my opinion on the latest archaeological discovery: the “earliest church” found at Megiddo (AP story, Washington Post, photos and more photos). Frankly, I’m not all that excited. Here’s why. 1. It seems like every few years the “earliest church” is discovered (in Jordan). Of course, they mean the earliest church building,… Read More »
These were the words of the archaeologist in charge of the current excavations of the City of David today. Our students were volunteering in the on-going archaeological work there and in the course of the day I had the chance to talk a bit with him. He showed me some of the newest excavations (on… Read More »
A couple of days ago I got an email from a long-lost IBEX alumnus. His comments are not the first time I have heard such, and I don’t doubt that others have felt the same but just have never had reason or courage to communicate with me. Indeed, I feel exactly the same way when… Read More »